Dinner Approval
by Akatsuki Child
Summary: Percy has to get Athena’s approval at dinner. Athena’s covered in someone else’s birthday cake, Poseidon will only eat seafood, and Annabeth is trying to pass them off as ‘normal’. "There's no way this is going to work..."


**I finally got this betaed by the lovely Stolen Silent Stars! She's awesome! I wrote this a long time ago, so it's a little different from my usual style of writing. Also, the characters are OOC, but that's how it's supposed to be. Anyways, I hope you like it! **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO!**

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**(Percy's POV)**

Athena, goddess of wisdom and war, was really starting to get on my nerves. Why, you ask? Simple: she doesn't trust me. For one thing, I'm the son of Poseidon, and they aren't exactly best friends. It's only logical that she hates _me_.

Another thing is I'm marrying her daughter soon. I can understand that Athena's protective of Annabeth, but did she really have to give me the cold shoulder _all the time?_ Truth be told, I was scared of Athena. She had brains and war craft, the deadliest combination I could think of.

It wasn't easy being Annabeth's boyfriend, but that didn't stop me, not even when Athena herself invited us to dinner.

Flashback

_It was a rainy day, so Annabeth and I decided to stay inside and watch movies. She was lying in my arms while we lounged on the couch. We were currently watching a horror movie, and even I had to admit it was creepy. Though, that might've been because the lights were off and it sounded like the world was ending outside. _

_Since the movie had to do with people creeping up on other people and killing them with chainsaws, you can just about imagine what happened when we heard a voice behind us say,_

"_Good afternoon,"_

_I jumped, and Annabeth screamed in my ear, which made me drop her. She fell off the couch and hit her head on the coffee table. I went to help her, but she must've not seen me because she accidentally (at least I hope it was an accident) elbowed me in the place no man wants to be elbowed. I flinched, but since I was invulnerable, it didn't hurt me. _

"Thank gods…"_ I thought._

_I helped her stand up, and we turned around to see Athena watching us with a raised brow. Annabeth and I blushed. _

"_M-Mother! W-what are you doing here?" Annabeth asked. _

"_I came here to invite you two to dinner." Athena replied. _

_Shocked, I asked, "Really?"_

_She glared at me. "Really. We'll be eating at Cornerstone at eight, on Thursday (A/N: I'm not a New Yorker, so I don't know any fancy restaurants in NY). Your father will also be joining us." Athena said the last part with such hatred that my anger rose tenfold. "I expect you two to be there on time." She was about to leave, but Annabeth stopped her. _

"_Not to be rude, but why are you doing this, Mother?" Annabeth asked. _

"_Because I know about your engagement, and I don't trust this boy." She replied, still glaring at me._

_Wow, way to be blunt._

_Without another word, she left, leaving Annabeth sore and me confused and angry. _

_End Flashback_

So when Thursday came, I found myself putting on an uncomfortable tux. My tie was hanging around my neck, undone. I was trying to tame my messy hair, but it wasn't cooperating. Earlier Annabeth had tried helping by gelling it back, but that just made me look like a nerd, so I washed it out. I combed it, but it was done in vain because all it did was make it messier. I growled, frustrated, and just ran both of my hands through the mop. It then looked like it always did on a regular basis. My eye twitched and I turned away from the mirror. I sat down on our bed and put my shoes on.

"Any luck with the hair?" Annabeth called from the bathroom.

"No!" I yelled back, still frustrated. I finished putting my shoes on just as Annabeth stepped out of the bathroom. I looked up at her, and froze. I blinked a couple times as I stared at her. She was wearing a knee length black dress with black high heels. Her blonde curls framed her face and make up lightly covered her face. To put it simply, she was beautiful.

"W-wow, Annabeth…you look amazing!" I stuttered out.

"Thanks, Percy," She said with a slight blush. I smirked as she walked up to me and helped me with my tie.

"Let's hope your mom doesn't smite me tonight," I muttered.

"Aww, is Percy scared?" She taunted with a smile.

"Tch. Yeah, right."

"You'll do fine. Just don't mess up, otherwise she _will_ smite you."

"Good thing I'm invincible, right? So, any tips you could give me?"

"Well, she'll probably be looking for small things, like pulling my chair out for me, and offering me a glass of wine. Stuff like that." She finished with my tie and wrapped her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. "I have faith in you," Annabeth whispered against my lips.

"Good, because I don't," I said before giving her a sweet, chaste kiss.

"We should probably get going," Annabeth said as we pulled apart. She grabbed her purse, grabbed my hand, and we left our apartment.

--

We arrived at the restaurant with five minutes to spare. I saw my father and Athena standing outside, looking at anything but each other. Poseidon was in a deep blue, almost sea green, tux. Athena was wearing a silver dress, and if I wasn't so scared of her, I might even think she was pretty.

"Percy, my boy!" Poseidon greeted happily as we neared them. He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side.

"Hi, dad," I replied.

"And hello to you, Annabeth." Poseidon greeted Annabeth. As they exchanged a few words, I walked over to Athena, who held a cold stare.

"Uh, good evening…Athena." I said weakly.

"Percy," She just said with a nod. An awkward silence fell upon us, but thankfully Poseidon and Annabeth came.

"Hi, mother," Annabeth said to Athena.

"Hello, Annabeth dear," She replied. She put her arm around Annabeth's shoulders and ushered her to the building. My dad and I exchanged a quick glance before going after them. I raced ahead so I could open the door for Athena and Annabeth. I wasn't taking any chances. I would make sure I did everything to get Athena's approval.

"There's no way in Hades I'm going to survive this…" I muttered to myself as they walked pass me.

When we stepped inside, there was a desk with a girl standing behind it, a thin, black journal laid out in front of her.

"We have reservations under Chase," Athena told her. It didn't surprise me that she used Annabeth's last name.

"Ah, yes, right this way," She said in a soft voice. We followed her into the dining area. A crystal chandelier hung from the high ceiling. There were portraits of different people along the walls. There were booths lining the wall with round tables covering the rest of the floor. There weren't a lot of people, but there was enough to make a low buzzing sound from their talking.

The lady from the desk sat us down at a round table, Annabeth on my right, Poseidon on my left, leaving Athena in front of me. I wasn't sure if I could handle her scrutinizing the whole night, but I wanted Athena's approval. Even if she didn't approve, I would still marry Annabeth.

"Your waiter will be with you in a minute," The lady said with a smile before disappearing.

"This is really nice, mom," Annabeth said with a smile. "Thanks for inviting us," She then kicked me in the shin with the heal of her shoe.

"Yeah," I coughed, covering up my yelp of pain. "This is, uh, very thoughtful of you," I placed my hand on Annabeth's thigh and gave it a squeeze. She jumped, hitting the table. She shot me a quick glare.

"I thought I saw a bug. Turned out it was just a dust bunny!" She laughed and waved her hand dismissively.

Athena narrowed her eyes. I could see the suspicion growing in her eyes, and it made me nervous.

"So…dad…how are things in the sea?" I asked conversationally.

"Pretty good. I was pretty upset about my game room collapsing, but thanks to Annabeth's ideas, we were able to make it bigger and put more stuff in it!" He exclaimed.

'_You're such a kid, dad…'_ I thought. "How's Tyson?"

"Oh, your brother's doing fine. He's helped rebuild my palace and now he's back to working in the forges."

I really missed Tyson, so it was nice to hear the big guy was doing okay.

Just then, our waiter came with menus. I hated him immediately due to the fact that he was staring at Annabeth. Plus, he was standing way too close to her. Had he ever heard of 'personal space'?

"Good evening. I'm Juan, and I'll be your waiter tonight. Our special tonight is the crab and lobster dish. It features king crab legs with a cooked lobster and a side of either a salad, soup, or waffle fries."

"I'll take that with a side of waffle fries," Poseidon said right away, handing the menu back to him. I rolled my eyes and looked down at my menu.

"Alright," Juan said a little surprised. He grabbed the menu and pulled out a pad and a pencil. "How about we start off with a drink and I'll come back and get the rest of your orders?"

"Sure," Annabeth said. "Can we just have a bottle of Champagne?"

"Certainly, my lady," He said, grabbing her hand and giving it a kiss. I tensed and squeezed the menu. I bit my lip and wrapped my feet around the chairs' legs to stop myself from doing anything rash. I saw Annabeth blush, and I glared at the menu. I also noticed Athena looked smug, while Poseidon looked nervous. He kept glancing at me, probably to stop me incase I jumped across the table to strangle the guy. The idea was becoming more and more appealing the longer Juan stayed.

"I'll be back with your drinks," Juan said before finally leaving. I felt Annabeth touch my arm, and I instantly relaxed. I looked over at her and saw her smiling at me. I smiled back before looking at the menu again.

I tensed again when Juan came back and filled our glasses with the Champagne.

"You know," Juan started in a low voice. He knelt down beside Annabeth. "French monks were the first ones to bottle champagne, but I like to believe that a woman was involved…" He ran a finger down her arm. I slammed my menu on the table, startling a few people.

"I don't think she wants to hear your beliefs." I growled. "I'd like to order, if you don't mind." The four of them stared at me, before Juan stood up.

"I'm sorry…what can I get you folks?" Well, that was weird. It was like his whole demeanor changed. Maybe he's bi-polar…

I ordered the stake and potatoes, Annabeth ordered a French dip, and Athena ordered roast beef sandwich with a salad as a side.

"Alright, I'll be back later with your food," Juan said as he departed. I sighed and took a swig of champagne.

"So, Percy, how do plan to support my daughter?" Athena asked suddenly. The question took me by surprise and I choked on my champagne.

"Uh, well, I have a job…?" I said, but it turned into a question.

"Ah, c'mon Athena, leave the boy alone!" My dad defended me. "He's putting up with you, and in my opinion, any boy that can do that is worthy of marrying your daughter!"

Athena's jaw clenched and I started to worry. I didn't want them to have a fight and tear down the building. "Uh, dad…not that I don't appreciate you helping me, but please try not to push things to far--"

"Excuse me for worrying! Besides, you're too soft! If Percy were to marry some unintelligent _girl_, you wouldn't lose any sleep over it!"

"I wouldn't if it made him happy!"

"You are such a player!"

"How is that even relevant?!"

"It's relevant because you would do anything to make yourself happy, including seducing Medusa in one of my temples!"

That shocked me. "You seduced Medusa in her temple?" I asked.

"Oh, Percy, don't you know the story?" Annabeth sighed while Athena and Poseidon kept fighting.

"No, actually,"

"You really are a seaweed brain,"

"Can we not insult my intellect today? Now what's this about Medusa and what not?"

"See, before Medusa was…you know…"

"Ugly?"

"Yeah…well, your father took a liking to her because she was so beautiful and seduced her in one of Athena's temples. Athena was so mad, she turned Medusa into a gorgon."

I raised my eyebrows. If I hurt Annabeth, I wouldn't put it past Athena to turn me into a dolphin, or something like that.

I realized it was quiet, and I looked over to see Poseidon and Athena glaring at each other. Athena crossed her arms and looked away, while my father just huffed and took a drink from his glass. I sighed in relief. The building was still standing, which was always a good sign when it came to the gods' arguments.

A few minutes passed in silence, in which Annabeth tapped her fingers on the table, Athena's eye twitched as she glared at nothing, Poseidon shook his head slowly from side to side with a blank stare, and I bounced my knee and leaned back in my chair, my hands folded together on my stomach. I saw a bunch of waiters come out, two of them carrying a cake with flaming candles on it, and walk to a group of people a couple tables away from us. They started singing Happy Birthday to an elderly man. When they finished, everyone in the restaurant started clapping.

Finally, our food came. Dad rubbed his hands together before quickly digging into his crab legs.

"Well, if there's anything else you need, let me know," Juan said, staring pointedly at Annabeth. I glared at him.

"Yeah," I said. "Could we have a bottle of red wine?" I smiled at him smugly.

Juan glared at me fiercely, and then gave me a nod and briskly walked back towards the kitchen. I watched him push through the door and slam it shut. Once it was completely shut, I heard someone start to shout. I knew by the voice that it was Juan. My smug smile grew even more.

Everyone quieted down and stared at the kitchen door for a second, before going back to their conversations. I then dug into my food, as did Annabeth and Athena.

"Do you two plan on having any children?" Athena suddenly asked again. I choked on my potatoes, and Annabeth actually spit her food out onto the table. Poseidon stared in shock first at Annabeth, then at Athena.

"Mom!" Annabeth exclaimed with a blush.

"Grandchildren?" Poseidon whispered around some lobster. He swallowed and said in a louder voice, "You're thinking about _grand_children already?! They aren't even married yet!"

"Dad!" I yelled.

"I'm just saying!"

I took a deep breath. "We weren't planning on kids anytime soon," I explained in a weak voice.

"We both agreed we would settle in before we thought about anything like that," Annabeth said in a sharp tone, officially ending the conversation. That was just another reason why I loved Annabeth.

"Does your job pay well?" Athena asked another question, barely fazed by the last one.

"Yes," I answered curtly. She fired many more 'yes or no' questions, so many in fact, that I lost count.

A couple minutes later, Juan came back with two bottles, a wine bottle and a champagne bottle.

"Here's your wine, sir," He said, placing it in front of me. "I noticed you were running low on champagne so I took the liberty of bringing you some more," He said with a teeth-showing grin. I could see he was trying to impress Annabeth, but she just continued eating. I smirked at him and smugly ate my steak.

Juan rolled his eyes at me and turned to Athena. "Shall I pour you some more, madam?" He asked sweetly. Now it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"Certainly," Athena replied with a charming smile. A wave of disgust washed over me when I realized she preferred him to me. But then again, she would love any guy other than me…

Now, we all know what happens when you shake a can of pop, right? You open it, and it explodes. That's what happens to most liquids that are sealed tightly in cans/bottles. So when Juan lifted the champagne from his side in a fast, swift, upward motion, you can imagine what happened. The cork from the bottle shot up and out at a fifty degree angle towards a light on the ceiling, hit it, then came back towards our table and hit Poseidon on the back just as he bit into his waffle fry. He started coughing and sputtering as he choked on his food.

"Oh my gods! Dad!" I quickly stood up and hit his back repeatedly. He eventually swallowed the food, gasping for air. He took a drink of his water before glaring at Juan.

"I'm so sorry, sir!" Juan apologized.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about it," He grumbled in reply. I sighed, closed my eyes, and pinched the bridge of my nose as Annabeth rubbed my arm affectionately. _'This is going to be a long night…'_

_--_

When things settled down from the choking incident, Athena started assaulting me with more questions, but this time they were scenarios, like what would I do if Annabeth were terribly ill? Or what would I do if I lost my job? Annabeth interjected on my behalf a couple times, to which I was thankful.

Then, the questions became more serious.

When we were nearing the end of dinner, she asked a question that I had thought about quite often.

"Would you ever hurt Annabeth?" She asked in a low voice.

My answer was firm. "I would never purposely hurt her, and if I ever did, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

I looked over at Annabeth and she was smiling softly at me, tears gathering in her beautiful gray eyes.

We all finished our dinner in silence, and then Juan came to take our plates.

"How about some dessert?" He asked, pulling out small dessert menus. "I recommend the chocolate mousse…" He said to Annabeth, looking at her with lust filled eyes as he placed an arm around her. I couldn't take it anymore.

"That's it!" I yelled, standing up while slamming my hands on the table in anger. "Get your slimy hands off my fiancé," I said in a low, dangerous tone.

"Your fiancé, huh?" He laughed, standing up.

"Guys, stop this right now!" I faintly heard Annabeth protest.

"What are you going to do about it?" Juan asked, smirking at me. He crossed his arms mockingly.

"This!" I said, pulling my fist back. I snapped it forward and punched him, which sent him flying back into the table that had the birthday cake on it.

"Percy!" I heard my dad yell. I glanced back and saw him and Athena stand up. I didn't care, though. I was just happy I got to put him in his place.

Juan glared at me hatefully before grabbing a handful of cake. He threw it at me, but I ducked, which was the stupidest thing I had ever done. Because I was standing in Athena's eyesight, she didn't see what was happening until it was too late. The cake flew towards her and hit her smack dab in the face. It seemed like time froze as everyone in the restaurant quieted down while looking at the unfolding scene. The four of us (Annabeth, Poseidon, Juan, and I) stared at Athena, shocked and scared, waiting for her reaction.

She slowly wiped the cake off her face with two hands, but there were still smears of it on her face and partly in her hair and clothes. She stalked over to Juan, who was now shaking in fear, and slapped him upside the head. He yelped and fell on the ground.

She walked back towards us and we all flinched. "Let's go," She said curtly.

"Yes, ma'am!" Poseidon said, scrambling after her. I grabbed Annabeth's hand and we hurried out the door.

"I'm terribly sorry!" The lady at the desk apologized over and over again.

"Don't worry about it," I said, placing a twenty dollar bill on the counter for the meal, though I knew it wasn't nearly enough. She looked at me questioningly.

"For the meal," I explained. "I know it's not enough, but--"

"Oh, no, sir," She replied hastily, giving me my money back. "Don't worry about it."

"O…kay," I said.

"C'mon, Percy," Annabeth tugged on my hand, and we left the restaurant

Athena and Poseidon were waiting for us. I saw Athena had gotten rid of all the traces of cake, probably with her godly powers.

"Jackson, you are an idiot!" She accused. Then she sighed. "But despite that, I know how much you care about Annabeth, and I know how much she cares about you." She coughed uncomfortably. "I never thought I would say this, but…I approve of your engagement."

A huge smile broke out on my face, and before I could stop myself, I gave her a hug. I froze, and my father gave a dramatic gasp.

I backed away quickly to see her glaring at me.

"Uh, sorry," I apologized. "Thank you, though," I smiled again.

She pursed her lips. "Yeah, sure," She regained her professional composure and turned to Annabeth. "We must be going now. We'll see you at the wedding," She said and nodded to Annabeth.

"Bye, mom," Annabeth replied.

"See yeah later, Percy!" My father said giving me a hug.

"Bye, dad." I replied. I put my arm around Annabeth as we watched the two of them start bickering.

"Was someone getting a little soft back there?" Poseidon asked teasingly while poking her shoulder.

"Me? Soft? In your dreams!" She replied, shoving him onto the street.

"What was that for?"

"You poked me, so I shoved you!"

"You are such a brat!"

That was the last thing we heard before they disappear. I sighed at their child-like behavior.

"They act like little kids sometimes," Annabeth said with a shake of her head.

"Agreed," I said. I then smiled down at her. "So, future Mrs. Jackson, shall we go home?"

She smiled back at me. "Of course, Mr. Jackson."

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**Like I said earlier, a bit different than what I usually write, but I thought it was pretty awesome! I hope you liked it. Thanks for reading and please review! Flames will be used to keep me warm and toasty in this cold weather :)**

**--Akatsuki Child**


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